Make draft of amended Press Council Act public: TIB

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the Bangladesh Press Council to make the draft of its amended act public.

TIB in a statement issued Sunday also urged the council to take opinions from the concerned stakeholders, mainly mass media and its professionals, on the draft and adjust the changes in line with the conventional practice.

On Saturday, during a meeting with Press Council Chairman Justice Nizamul Haque Nasim, an Editors’ Council delegation expressed their concern over the amendment to the Bangladesh Press Council Act 2022 and demanded that the draft be published on the Press Council’s website.

In the statement, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said that publishing the draft of a law, before its enactment and amendment, in the public interest and gathering opinions from the stakeholders is a prerequisite of the fair democratic process. This process has been followed in case of every law formulated in recent times.

“The initiative to strengthen the Press Council by amending the existing act has been underway for several years. But the council has shown their unwillingness to publish the draft and provide it to the stakeholders, specifically to the Editors' Council and different journalist organisations.

“Since the media and its professionals’ interest, freedom, free media and its ethics are inextricably related to this act, it is imperative to inform these stakeholders, take opinions from them at every level and make adjustments [in the law],” said Iftekharuzzaman.

He said that the government since 2008 has been publishing the drafts in the public interest to review, collect opinions and inform when it came to enactment or amendment of various laws.

By not sharing the draft law, the Press Council has ignored the country’s conventional norms of the law enactment and amendment processes and created a precedent of arbitrariness, read the statement.

Moreover, it becomes logical to raise the question of whether the council is resorting to secrecy to control the mass media and journalists instead of protecting their interests and freedom, said Iftekharuzzaman.

He expressed hope that the council will make the draft public showing respect to the country’s conventional practices.